Family Reunion
by The Nerd King
Summary: Kung Jin is offered the chance to save Kung Lao, but is the offer all that it seems? Can Kung Lao be freed from Quan Chi's curse? Meanwhile, Kung Lao is mystified by the woman named Jade. Kung Lao X Jade, evil Raiden.
1. Chapter 1: Kung Jin makes a bad decision

**Author's Note: This is my first Mortal Kombat fanfic. It's focused around three of my favorite characters-Kung Lao, Kung Jin, and Jade-following the events of Mortal Kombat X. I apologize ahead of time if I make a mistake involving continuity.**

 **Disclaimer: Mortal Kombat belongs to Warner Brothers and Netherrealm Studios.**

Kung Jin glared at the paintings on the wall of the Shaolin temple. They depicted two mighty warriors whose lives were lost twenty-five years ago: Liu Kang, the champion of Mortal Kombat, and more importantly, Kung Lao, Liu Kang's closest friend...AND Kung Jin's cousin.

Kung Jin had and always looked up to Lao. He pined to be nearly as great of a warrior and hero. When he learned of his cousin's demise, it had nearly destroyed him. A part of him still hated Raiden for doing nothing while Shao Kahn broke the monk's neck. Alas, he knew his rage was misdirected, and that Raiden felt awful for all the losses in the battle against Shao Kahn. Ever since he'd purified the Jinsei, the thunder god had vanished. Kung Jin assumed he was sulking somewhere, horrified after seeing Liu Kang, Kung Lao, and the others as evil revenants-

"Kung Jin, there is something I must tell you."

-or maybe Raiden had just teleported behind the bowman.

Jin turned around to face the god. Raiden's white robes and blue vest were now black, and his eyes had changed from electric blue to a demonic red color.

"What happened to you?" the Shaolin monk asked.

"I assume you are referring to my appearance," Raiden said. "My eyes were changed red as a side effect of purifying the Jinsei. As for my clothing, I simply thought I needed a change of wardrobe. But that is not important. I believe I can save your cousin, and the other revenants."

Jin's eyes widened. "How...how is that possible? Quan-Chi is dead."

Raiden unclasped a...necklace(?), with a blue amulet in the center, from his neck. "I believe this will ward off the evil that corrupts the revenants' souls. Put this on a revenant and he or she should revert back to normal. Unfortunately, the process of creating each amulet is time-consuming, even for a god. So far, I only have one. You must take this necklace to the Netherrealm, and test it. Should your test be successful, I shall devote all my time to creating more amulets."

"Why me?"

"I have other business to attend to, and I believe you are the most dedicated to this cause, among all of Earthrealm's heroes. Travelling in numbers may attract unwanted attention, so you must travel alone. What do you say?"

 _I may be needed here_ , Kung Jin thought. _If there's another invasion from Outworld or the Netherrealm...but I can save Kung Lao. And Liu Kang, and Princess Kitana, and the other good people who died to save Earthrealm_.

"I'll do it," he declared, grabbing the necklace from Raiden.

The thunder god smiled, in a way that almost seemed...smug. Kung Jin had no time to wonder about that, because second later, there was a bright flash of light, as he was teleported to the Netherrealm.

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"You did WHAT?"

"I released the creatures imprisoned in the Flesh Pits. You know, the failed experiments before Mileena was created."

"You DARE release those inferior copies to travel freely?"

"There was no reason to keep them there! They served no purpose! What exactly were YOU planning to do with them?!"

"Torture them, laugh at their pain, watch as they die a slow and painful death, and pray to the Elder Gods they never return as revenants."

When they were alive, Liu Kang and Kitana were deeply attracted to each other. Neither had a bad thing to say about the other.

Now that their souls had been filled with rage and hate by Quan Chi, well...not so much. The king and queen of the Netherrealm were constantly arguing, much to the distaste of their second-in-command, Kung Lao.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" he yelled.

"Do you mind?" replied Liu Kang. "Your rulers are having a discussion. When we want your input, we will ask. For your disrespect, you must leave this room right now."

The hat-wearing warrior growled angrily and stormed out of the throne room into the hallway. He had always hated being treated as "second best." He didn't have to take this! Maybe it was time for him to leave, escape to Earthrealm...could he even get back to Earthrealm under his own power? Probably not. Great. He couldn't even _leave_ this place. He was trapped, doomed to wander the Netherrealm forever-

What was that?

There was a noise coming from the armory. Kung Lao walked in to check. Next thing he knew, he was lying on his stomach. Someone was standing on his back.

A voice whispered in his ear, "I'm sorry I had to do that."

The weight on his back ceased. He looked up in time to see a retreating figure wearing green clothing.

Could it be…

"Jade has returned," he muttered to himself.

 **Expect appearances from Kenshi, Johnny Cage, Sub-Zero, and more. Please read and review. Creative criticism is always welcome.**


	2. Chapter 2: how Jade met Kung Lao

**Author's Note: This chapter is devoted to a little Jade/Kung Lao backstory. It's a little sloppily done, but I needed something like this to move the story along, and this is the best I could come up with. Don't worry, I'll explain what happened to Jade during MKX soon.**

 **Twenty-seven years ago…**

Kung Lao had snuck into the Mortal Kombat tournament to avenge his ancestor. Instead, he was immediately defeated by Scorpion. As you could probably guess, he was not very happy about this.

He was standing on a bridge overtop of a deep pit. As he was wondering what he should do now, an object zipped past his face.

"What the…" It was a razorang-an orb-like object with three large blades attached. And it was spinning through the air...and coming back at his face. The Shaolin monk ducked, then turned to see his attacker.

It was a beautiful woman in a revealing green outfit. She caught the razorang out of the air.

"Ah, you must be princess Kitana," he said, preparing himself for a fight.

The woman's emerald eyes widened. "Wha-I'm not-my name is Jade! Kitana is elsewhere right now...killing your friend Liu Kang. I've come to do the same to you!"

She tossed the razorang at him again. Kung Lao teleported away, reappearing directly behind Jade. He grabbed her arms and held them behind her back.

"Why, out of everyone here at the tournament, are you trying to kill _me_?" Kung Lao asked. "I'm not even supposed to be here."

"Exactly," she replied. "You're a wild card. You cannot be trusted!"

With that, she kicked him in...a very important place, causing the man yelp and release her. She then pulled out her main weapon-a small stick that quickly transformed into a glowing that was as long as she was tall. She swung it at him, hitting him square in the jaw. She swung again, but this time, Kung Lao caught the staff before it could hit him.

He winced. "You're strong. I like that in a woman."

"Um...thank you," she said awkwardly, pulling the staff from his grip.

"What, the men in Outworld don't find you attractive?"

Jade aimed a kick at the Shaolin's head, which he skillfully dodged.

"They do," she said, to answer Lao's question. "However, you might have noticed the fact that the people I hang out with aren't particularly, well...handsome."

"Ah, so I'm handsome, am I?" he replied, dodging a punch. "You know, you don't look so bad yourself."

The lower half of Jade's face was covered-something she was grateful for right now. After all, no assassin would want to be caught with a bright red _blush_ adorning their cheeks. "Thanks again."

"You're plenty welcome," he laughed. He noticed she'd stopped attacking him. Interesting. Perhaps she would let him go.

He slowly began to retreat back to Shang Tsung's palace. Jade did nothing to stop him-just stared at him with a surprised expression on her face.

"Just so you know," he called when he reached the palace's doors, "green is my favorite color!"

He then entered the palace, where he saw his friend Liu Kang leaning against a wall.

"So," he said pleasantly, greeting his friend. "Anything interesting happen to you recently?"

"A beautiful woman tried to kill," was the response.

"Princess Kitana?"

"How did you...?"

"A little bird told me. I was also attacked by a beautiful woman, as a matter of fact. Her name was Jade."

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 **Present (shortly after chapter 1's ending)**

Tears formed in Jade's eyes as she ran as far from the armory as possible.

"Kung Lao," she whispered to herself. "Is green still your favorite color?"


	3. Chapter 3: the plot thickens

Kung Jin opened his eyes. A dead bird was in front of him. He was not proud of the surprised yelp he made in response to this sight.

 _Wait_ , he thought. _What happened? Why was I lying on the ground unconscious a second ago?_

He sat up and eyed the dead bird. _And why is_ that _in front of me?_

He heard footsteps behind him. He turned and saw a woman dressed in green.

"Plenty of animals end up here after they die," she said, gesturing towards the bird. "It is disgusting eating an animal's tortured soul, but, well, I don't have many options."

She noticed him staring at her. "See something you like?"

Jin shook his head. "Definitely not. No offense or anything, it's just that you're not really my type, if you know what I'm saying. Sorry for staring, but...you're _Jade_ , right? You're a hero! A legend!"

"A...legend? Really? And who might you be?"

"Oh, me? I'm nobody important. My name's Kung Jin."

Jade gasped and her eyes widened. "Kung? As in...Kung Lao?"

"He's my cousin. I came here hoping to save him from an eternity as a revenant." He showed her the necklace Raiden had given him. "This is supposed to remove the corruption from a revenant's soul."

"Well, teleporting into the revenants' fortress wasn't the smartest plan. If I hadn't found you, Stryker and Kabal would've torn you apart. You're welcome, by the way."

"Thanks...hey, mind if I address the elephant in the room?"

"Meaning?"

"Weren't _you_ a revenant? How are you human right now?"

Jade sighed. "Well…that's an interesting story…"

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"Have you come to beg for forgiveness?" mocked Kitana. Beside her, Liu Kang smirked.

Kung Lao growled. "I come bearing news. Ja-"

"Jade has returned!" Kabal shouted as he burst into the throne room.

"I know," Lao murmured.

"You saw her?" Liu Kang asked Kabal.

The former police officer nodded. "She has allied herself with an Earthrealmer. The Shaolin archer."

"Excuse me?" Kung Lao cut in, his eyes wide. "Jade's teamed up with Kung Jin?"

"Yeah," Kabal replied, holding up a torn piece of green cloth. "I took this from the Edenian."

Liu Kang smiled. "Perfect. It is time to see just how good a tracker Nightwolf is."

"I will accompany Nightwolf on his search."

"..."

"..."

"Kung Lao, do not demand such things from your king."

"I will accompany him. We will track down Jade and cousin Jin...and I will personally kill them both."

Kang sighed. "If you insist. Go fetch the shaman."

Kung Lao nodded and left to find Nightwolf. Kabal left with him.

"So I don't get a say in things?" Kitana muttered.

"Did you have something to say?"

"Maybe…"

"You didn't."

"You could've asked if I did."

"I knew you didn't."

Their discussion was cut short when Sindel entered the throne room.

"Why do people keep bothering us?" the king of the Netherrealm said.

"It's part of ruling, idiot. What do you want, mother?"

"Foreigners have come here," Sindel replied.

"We know," groaned Liu Kang. "Kung Jin and Jade."

"What? No. The blind swordsman, and the Outworlder, Ermac."


End file.
